There is no innocent literary prize just as no writing is innocent and free of value. Every piece of writing is a political act, and every prize made to a writer is an act of validation and an expression of a given value – the specific and subjective value of the awarding institution. It has very little universal meaning.

This past week, a group from the South-South political zone of Nigeria made public its endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for re-election in 2015. It is all in the larger scheme of things of course, but not unexpectedly, various reactions, some subtle, some more blatant, have accompanied the endorsement from this group purporting to be speaking for the South-South.

Last week I drew attention to this question of the loss of mission and the diminution of the enterprise of the Nigerian university. I pointed to the dire implications of “privatized” universities and university education, particularly in inadequate environments and limited structures, factors which lead to the production of ill-equipped, half-educated, and in fact dysfunctional university graduates.

A friend of mine sent me an e-mail last week, and his question in his mail was both amusing and troubling. He asked me to confirm that “our children in America are planning to build a university in our village.” Of course, “our children in America” are planning no such thing.

Unease continues to trail the Jonathan administration’s decision to cede the control of Nigeria’s strategic waterways to Global West Vessel Specialist Agency, a private company owned by Government Ekpemukpolo, known more generally as Tompolo.